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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29730231">Loyalty</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nythil/pseuds/Nythil'>Nythil</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>From the Redacted Files of Cipher Nine [4]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Legends: The Old Republic (Video Game)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Action in Later Chapters, Angst, Chapter count may go up, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Established Relationship, F/M, Firen has intent to cause more serious injuries, Firen is on a war path, I did this instead of math, I haven't done a multi chapter fic in ages forgive delays, Lana isn't there for long, Mentions of Blood, Minor Injuries, Minor Violence, Nothing makes relationship issues like attempted murder, Post umbara, Potentially intent to murder, Showers are the best place to feel bad about yourself, Star Wars: The Old Republic - Crisis On Umbara Spoilers, Which at the moment is crumbling, idiot spy couple</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-02-27</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-02-27</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-15 20:02:39</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,665</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29730231</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nythil/pseuds/Nythil</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>After Umbara, Firen has to deal with what Theron did. Her friend. Her advisor. Her lover. She takes some time to think about the situation, and what she's going to do about him.<br/><em>To </em>him.</p><p>The problem with betraying a former Imperial agent? The agent part isn't gone. Firen doesn't handle traitors well.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Female Imperial Agent | Cipher Nine/Theron Shan</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>From the Redacted Files of Cipher Nine [4]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1680079</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>3</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>8</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Loyalty</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p><em> And now, all your love is wasted<br/>Then who the hell was I?<br/>'Cause now I'm breaking at the bridges<br/>And at the end of all your lies<br/>-Birdy, Skinny Love </em> </p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>With more force than she intended, Firen wrenched the handle to the left. Her breathing was heavy as the water rolled down her back. Lana knocked at the door and called to her, but Firen couldn’t hear over her own thoughts.</p><p>
  <em> The trio slowly fought their way to the front of the train. Lana kept careful track of where the traitor was, but they never seemed to move. That gave Firen a bad feeling, but she shoved it away and continued; there was little she could do about it now, save what they were already here for. Whatever was going to happen, she had Lana and Theron with her. </em>
</p><p> </p><p>Firen leaned against the wall and let her head rest against the cool tiles. They felt sharply cold compared to the water, almost painful at first. She took her hair down and let it fall in a haphazard blue tangle.</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> Firen’s eyes scanned every part of the room. There didn’t seem to be any possible escapes, yet it was empty.  </em>
</p><p>
  <em> “That’s impossible. According to the signal, they’re still on the convoy…” Lana echoed the Commander’s thoughts. </em>
</p><p>
  <em> A moment of quiet fell between the three as they all gazed around the room. Firen’s lips twitched in annoyance. And then the silence was broken by a blaster shot, and Lana dived in front of Firen. There was little time to process what happened, and she wasn’t even sure where the blaster fire came from. She turned, expecting to see a familiar face to put to the title of traitor. </em>
</p><p>
  <em> It was too familiar. </em>
</p><p> </p><p>Firen flexed her hands against the wall, letting her nails grip against the tiles and sink slightly into the grout holding them. If she wanted, it would be easy to destroy. They were delicate.</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> “It’s over, Commander.”  </em>
</p><p>
  <em> “Theron?”  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>The water rapidly became warmer against her skin as steam rose through the air.</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> “Did you ever love me, or was that all part of the act?”  </em>
</p><p>
  <em> “You know I love you… but this is bigger than us.”  </em>
</p><p>
  <em> Firen was suddenly intimately aware of her surroundings and how little control she honestly had. The train, a large metal trap that was ultimately fragile in how easy it was to derail. The planet with a climate she was ill-prepared for. The distance from Odesson and the weak communication link to the Alliance. The secretive nature of the mission. </em>
</p><p>
  <em> It all seemed to make her weaker right now. </em>
</p><p> </p><p>Firen’kesho’ardu clenched her teeth as the water became uncomfortably hot, stinging with every drop. The cuts and burns from the crash ached furiously. She felt a loose tooth. Blood seeped from the laceration across her side where a part of the train had nearly stabbed through her. Nothing she couldn’t fix with some kolto, but she was glad that she decided to shower first. It hurt, and that felt good, grounding Firen to the moment and her growing fury. </p><p>There was no room or time for anything else. </p><p>Theron had made his choice. He wasn’t her advisor, friend, or lover anymore. </p><p>He was an enemy.</p><p>She watched her blood strike the water at her feet, swirling together and creating a pool of red around her. </p><p> </p><p>
  <em> “But the Alliance outgrew you. Now it’s rotting from the inside.”  </em>
</p><p>
  <em> “If you felt this way, you should’ve come to me first.” </em>
</p><p>
  <em> The forcefield in front of Firen felt opaque. She couldn’t see the man on the other side, regardless of how clear her vision was.  </em>
</p><p>
  <em> Theron wasn’t there anymore.   </em>
</p><p> </p><p>She stood still against the water, arms stiffly raised against the wall and closed her hands into fists.</p><p>Firen stared at the ground as her nails dug into her palms, scraping against skin. </p><p>She moved one hand and ripped out the loose tooth with a burning pain up her jaw. Nothing that couldn't be replaced. Firen examined it briefly. Cracked and bloody, some of the root hanging loosely. She threw it on the floor where it was swept into the drain, surrounded by water and blood.</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> “If you topple the Alliance, millions will die!”  </em>
</p><p>
  <em> “If that’s the cost of peace, so be it.”  </em>
</p><p>
  <em> Firen felt dizzy. Peace? That’s what this was about? What did he think she was fighting for? What did he think she left the Empire for? Theron knew she wanted an end to the mindless killing between the Empire and the Republic. He knew exactly how much she regretted doing during her tenure as Cipher Nine. How little of a person she was before the Alliance. </em>
</p><p>
  <em> Or she thought he did.  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>Firen learned early in life to repress emotion. It was sheer folly to bother with true feelings unless you wanted to get killed, only to be used as a weapon. One of the first things she was taught.</p><p>Firen wasn’t sure anymore if she should have unlearnt that lesson. </p><p> </p><p>
  <em> “Thirty seconds to impact. This is goodbye.”  </em>
</p><p>
  <em> “I’ll always love you, Theron. Nothing will ever change that.”  </em>
</p><p>
  <em> The roar of the train, previously a quiet hum to Firen, was punctuated by metal grinding as it derailed. It shook violently around them — only her and Lana. Theron had walked away from them. From her.   </em>
</p><p>
  <em> Firen closed her eyes and waited for the train to collide with the mountain range. She knew they would survive assuredly enough, but until the wreckage settled, patience would be critical. </em>
</p><p> </p><p>What was the point in telling Theron she still loved him? What a stupid thing to say. Weak.</p><p>Firen gritted her teeth, despite the white-hot flash of pain from the absent tooth, as she resisted the urge to cry. Another weak reaction. The betrayal was her fault. There was a reason that she had been successful without emotions, and it had been idiotic of her to assume that people were ever altruistic. She let too many people too close. </p><p>Firen could flip a switch to mimic a different emotion at the moment, and it had just been an adaptation to try and defuse Theron’s plan. It wasn’t weak to say she loved him if it was a lie. </p><p>She wasn’t weak. </p><p> </p><p> <em> They were too late. Theron stood on the landing of a ship already in the air, looking down on them.  </em></p><p>
  <em> “This isn’t over, Theron,” Firen yelled.  </em>
</p><p>
  <em> She didn’t need the force to feel the wrath radiating off Lana next to her. The sith gripped her lightsaber tight enough to turn her knuckles white. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>Firen resisted the urge to reach for Lana. Perhaps her only true friend left. Then again, she had trusted Theron too.</em>
</p><p>
  <em> “No, this is just beginning.”  </em>
</p><p>
  <em> There was something in his voice that Firen couldn’t put her finger on. Something in how he looked at her, a layer underneath the sharpness of his gaze. </em>
</p><p>
  <em> Firen ignored it. Whatever Theron felt, he had made this decision unilaterally. Whomever he had as allies now would face the fury of the Eternal Alliance and the Commander, not Firen’kesho’ardu. She would put aside what they were before and do what needed to be done.  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>The venom in Theron’s voice had cut through Firen, a cold emptiness that ripped through her chest before settling in her stomach. But his words were now fuel for the rage Firen held close. She stoked the small but quickly growing fire it fed, ashes leaving a bitter taste in her mouth. Firen would keep it as her drive to find him and deal with this betrayal appropriately. She had to be sure that the threat was eliminated regardless of their shared past. That’s all he was now: a threat. </p><p>Once soothing and now a grating reminder of her naiveté, his voice echoed in her ears, repeating what he said just before they left for Umbara. </p><p> </p><p>
  <em> “I know how much energy you’re putting into this. It means a lot to me,” Firen murmured as she leaned into Theron’s chest. He closed his arms around her in a warm embrace, a shelter where she felt utterly safe. Betrayer on the loose or no, there was no danger here.  </em>
</p><p>
  <em> “And you mean a lot to me. I’d do anything to protect you.” Theron’s voice was low and held an edge, but Firen didn’t notice. </em>
</p><p>
  <em> He kissed the top of her head and released her. Theron’s eyes gazed at her softly as he took her face in his hands.  </em>
</p><p>
  <em> “I will solve this,” he promised.  </em>
</p><p>
  <em> Firen placed her hands over his and leaned a kiss into his left palm.   </em>
</p><p>
  <em> “I know. I trust you.” </em>
</p><p> </p><p>Firen released her hands, aching from the force she held them with and set them against the tiles. The chill had left them and evaporated into the steam. </p><p> Firen fell to her knees, her legs finally refusing to keep her standing. She dropped her head in the way of the water, trying to wash away her time with Theron and the love she allowed herself to feel for him. It didn’t matter now, did it?</p><p>Firen’s control slipped, and tears fell freely.</p><p>“You’re right, Theron. This is just the beginning,” she whispered to herself, closing her eyes, “and you won’t see the end.” </p><p>Theron didn’t believe she fought for peace, but he would undoubtedly see the difference soon. </p><p>He never saw her working as an agent. Right from the beginning on Manaan, it had been a team of circumstances. A necessary temporary alliance on Rishi, Yavin IV, on Ziost. The closest Theron had personally seen to the brutality she exacted as an Imperial asset was the triple agent who worked for Saresh. She forced him to call Lana and confess before shooting him without hesitation, so he had called her callous. Firen chuckled softy. She had barely been Imperial at the time, answering only to Darth Marr. Imperial Intelligence was disbanded long before then, leaving her free to use less extreme methods than Keeper demanded. </p><p>Theron thought that was callous?</p><p>That was nothing. </p><p>He was about to learn what it looked like when Firen fought for vengeance. </p><p>There would be no mercy.</p><p>Theron had brought Cipher Nine out, and he would pay for it.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>This is the first multi-chapter fic I've done in ages and the first one I've posted here. I'll do my best to update with some regularity, at least once a month, but I can't promise because of school. That being said, I hope you enjoyed it! My apologies to Firen for once again drowning her in angst. Feel free to leave suggestions or thoughts in the comments! Stay safe, everyone.</p></blockquote></div></div>
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